May 2013 San Diego Real Estate Market Update

Nationwide, Real Estate Markets are Growing Despite Being Hindered by Low Inventory

Across the country, real estate markets are continuing to see growth, even in many areas that had still been struggling to recover from the economic crisis. Recent data released by the National Association of Realtors shows that the median price of single-family homes rose in nearly 90% of the country's metropolitan areas during the first quarter of 2013. Thanks to the rising prices, these areas showed the highest year-over-year gains since 2006.

Another prominent sign of stability and growth in the nation's real estate market as a whole is the shrinking number of distressed properties available. The NAR report shows that distressed properties such as short sales and foreclosures consisted of only 23 percent of home sales, 9 percent lower than they were during the beginning of last year. These distressed properties are generally sold at discounted prices which in turn drive down the value of other homes in the neighborhood. The fact that there are fewer of these underpriced competitors on the market is great news for sellers from coast to coast.

San Diego Real Estate Considered in the Top Four Markets in the Country

April proved to be another strong month for the San Diego real estate market, as home sales continued to rise and interest rates saw a slight drop for the second month in a row. As a testament to the big gains and prominent seller's market being seen locally, the National Association of Realtors has ranked San Diego as one of the top four most competitive housing markets in the country.

Average interest rates dropped to 3.54 during the month, the lowest seen since January. Helped by these lower rates, the number of sold homes in the area grew slightly to 3144 during April. At the same time, the number of active listings rose 3% as a greater number of home sellers saw the financial opportunities that the current seller's market provides. With this small increase in available properties, the absorption rate for the region has remain nearly unchanged, increasing slightly to 40 days – still significantly lower than the 64 days' worth of inventory available on the market in April of 2012.

It is expected, over the next few months, that the number of active listings will continue to grow as more and more sellers hope to take advantage of the market's rising prices. While we are already beginning to see increases In the number of homes for sale since bottom out in January with the lowest average seen in recent years, 3938, there is still plenty of space for sellers who act before the number of San Diego homes for sale rises back to more historically common figures.

San Diego Real Estate Market Statistics

Active Home Listings

The graph below shows the active number of homes for sale for the corresponding month.

Home Sales

This graph shows the number of closed sales for the corresponding month.

Absorption Rate

The absorption rate is the number of months it would take to sell all of the homes that are currently for sale if no new homes were to come on the market.

Interest Rates

Interest rates are based on 30 year fixed mortgage rates.